Nightmare Before Christmas: The Baby
by hmueller
Summary: When Pinocchio, Jack and Sally find a lost human baby in Halloween Town, they'll have to travel to the real world to help get this baby back home.
1. Chapter 1

Nightmare Before Christmas: The Baby

Chapter 1

During my life, I've noticed that there are three types of couples in the world. The first want to instantly have kids right after they get married, which is awesome. The second don't want to have kids, which is okay. The third… aren't quite sure. And, unfortunately, that's the type Jack and Sally are. It would be great to have some cousins, but with where those two were, it didn't look like they were getting any closer to that. It wasn't until something completely unexpected happened.

Two years after Jack and Sally were married, we were incredibly busy setting up for Halloween. Thankfully, we were able to get a break one evening. I was sitting on my bed, listening to "The Seal Lullaby" by Eric Whitacre on my iPod. I adored the beautiful song and I also thought it was cool how it was an original written by Rudyard Kipling. You know, _The Jungle Book_ guy. I also liked how the lyrics made it sound as though a mother seal was singing to its baby.

 _Oh, hush thee, my baby_

 _The night is behind us_

 _And black are the waters that sparkle so green_

 _The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us_

 _At rest in the hollows that rustle between._

 _Where billow meets billow_

 _Then soft by thy pillow;_

 _Ah, weary wee flipperling_

 _Curl at thy ease_

 _The storm shall not wake thee,_

 _Nor shark overtake thee_

 _Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas._

 _Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas…._

Lying there, listening to those lyrics, I had never felt so peaceful before. I also found myself drifting off to sleep. Thankfully, I snapped myself back into reality before I could. Then a sudden thought popped into my head. I ripped out my earbuds, sprung from my bed, and went running down the long stairway that led up to Jack's study. When I arrived in the living room, there was a fire going in the fireplace and I saw Jack sitting on the sofa, reading a book. Sally was there, too. She was sitting in an armchair, knitting something. I ran over to the sofa and leaped right onto it. Jack to bounced into the air as I landed on the cushion.

"Pinocchio, what have I told you about leaping onto the couch like tha-" Jack started, but then I interrupted, eage to announce my idea.

"Hey guys," I said very quickly, "I just had a sudden thought: are you two thinking about having a kid?"

Utter silence fell over the room. However, Jack and Sally's expressions were not very silent. They both looked up from what they were doing and stared at me as though I had gone crazy. They then looked at each other uncomfortably.

"What?" I didn't understand why they were being so weird about this.

"Umm," Jack began and then stopped. He then took a big breath and looked me in the eye. "Pinocchio," Jack said, setting down his book and taking his bony hand into mine, "about that…" He stopped again and looked back at Sally who made a gesture for him to continue. "We're not quite sure if we want to have kids yet."

" _What_!" I yelled. Had Jack and Sally had completely lost it?

"I'm sorry, Pinocchio," Jack said, and he did sound sincere. "It's just that… Sally and I aren't ready to take that step in our lives yet."

" _Oh, come on_ , you guys!" I said. "I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. If you can put up with me, I'm pretty sure you can put up with kids of your own."

Jack and Sally looked annoyed.

"Pinocchio, we're just not ready," Jack's voice was firm.

"But-" I started, but Jack cut me off.

"No 'buts', all right." Jack then went back to his book and Sally to her knitting.

I sighed in defeat. I couldn't believe Jack and Sally were not ready to have kids. That's like saying Mary Poppins _isn't_ practically perfect in every way! But I guess if this was how they felt, I would have to be patient.

"By the way, did you take out the trash like I told you to?" Jack asked from behind his book.

"You didn't tell me to take out the trash," I said.

"I didn't?" Jack sounded confused.

I shook my head. "Nope."

"Well, please do it them," Jack commanded.

Sighing again, I got up from the sofa, walked over to the trash can, pulled out the bag, and sauntered out the door to relieve myself of my burden.

Just when I closed the gates to Jack's house, I heard a scurry of footsteps behind me. I turned around to see the Mayor running towards me. I knew something was up because his worry face was on.

"Pinocchio!" he panted. "Thank goodness. We need you to get Jack. There's something strange making noise down one of the alleys."

"What?" Now I was the one who was confused.

"Just do it!" he said in a panicky voice. "Quickly!"

I set the bag down against the wall around Jack's house, ran through the gates, and back into the house.

"Jack! Sally!" I entered the living room panting. "The Mayor needs you for something."

They both set down what they were doing and followed me outside.

"Jack! Sally!" the Mayor called in delight. "Thank gosh you're here. There's something you need to see."

He led us over to the Town Hall and pointed down the alleyway that was on the left side of the building.

"We heard a strange noise down there." He pointed down the alleyway.

We waited for minute. Then, we heard it. It sounded like someone crying, but it was muffled. Not wanting to wait a second longer, I pulled my backpack out from my pocket and got out my flashlight. I then proceeded down the alley.

"Pinocchio, get back here," Jack hissed, but I didn't listen.

As I walked down the alley, the noise grew louder and louder. Eventually, I came to a point where I could pinpoint where the sound was. It was coming from one of the trash cans. Very slowly, I lifted the bag out of the can. What I saw made me drop both my flashlight and the bag.

"Uhh, guys," I called. "You might want to see this!"

When Jack and Sally caught up with me, I picked up my flashlight and shone it down the trash can. At the bottom, crying its lungs out, was a tiny, dirty human baby.

How ironic, right?

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 ** _Hello everyone. Happy New Year! So this is my second fanfic. I hope you all enjoy it, and if you're commenting, please be nice in your comments. Also, I own nothing._**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

For a few moments, none of us moved. Eventually, I was able to move my arm again and poked Jack in the arm. He jumped slightly at my touch.

"What?" he asked, looking down at me.

I jerked my head toward the baby as a way to tell him to get it out.

"What!" Jack exclaimed. "Why me?"

"Uh, _duh_ , because your arms are the longest," I said, making a stupid face.

Jack sighed irritably, shaking is head. But then, he reached down into the trash can and carefully lifted the baby out.

It was still screaming its lungs out after being free from its tight-nit living space. Jack held it out at arms length, a look on his face as if he had no idea what to do.

"Oh, give me it," I snapped.

Jack gladly handed it over to me, and I started massaging it's back comfortingly, its head propped on my shoulder.

"Shh," I said softly. "It's okay, little guy. It's okay. Don't worry; everything's alright. I know. Being in that trash can probably wasn't a pleasant experience. But it's okay. We're here for you now. Don't worry. It's okay."

It took awhile, but eventually, the baby stopped crying. Jack and Sally were looking at me in amazement.

"Come on. Let's get this little guy inside." We then began to head toward the house.

* * *

I rummaged around in my backpack. Finally, I found it. I pulled out a baby bottle and some formula and ran back downstairs. I sprinted to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and went for the milk. I poured some in a small glass and then I put it in the microwave. I set the timer for ten seconds. When it was done, I took the glass out and carefully put the milk in the bottle. I added the formula and put the bobby on it. Then I poured some on my wrist to see if it was okay. It felt like it was at the right temperature.

I zoomed to the living room, where Jack was sitting in his armchair and Sally was on the sofa, holding the baby, both of them looking slightly nervous.

"Okay," I panted, "give me the kid."

Sally handed over the baby to me and I quickly placed the bottle in his mouth. He immediately started drinking. I was a relief that he hadn't started fighting with me.

"There you go, buddy," I cooed. "There you go."

It drank the milk as if it were practically dying of hunger.

"You must be hungry since you're drinking like that," I said, my heart swelling at the sight of the baby's cuteness.

"How do you know so much about babies?" Jack asked.

"Well, I had to do _something_ during my free time at The Academy," I said.

Jack and Sally looked at me as if they could hardly believe I would spend my spare time at The Academy reading.

"What did you think I did," I said in disbelief.

"Played video games," Jack said in a casual tone.

I gave him an annoyed look. That was sort of besides the point.

I tore my attention back to the kid. Now that things had settled down, I could finally get a good look at it. The baby was a boy. He had short blond hair, pretty blue eyes, and, despite being a little dirty, fair skin. He was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. And, of course like all babies, he was cute.

When he was done drinking, I set the bottle down on the table, and began trying to burp him. After a few moments of massaging, he let out a belch. When that was over, I held him out at arms length.

"Let's get you a bath," I said, suddenly thinking of it.

I rushed to the kitchen, turned on the water in the sink, made sure it was the right temperature and waited for it to fill up. When it was at the right amount, I turned off the water. Then I unclothed the baby. While I did, I heard footsteps coming into the kitchen. I turned to see that Jack and Sally had come in.

"Here," I said, handing Sally the baby's clothes, "take these and wash them."

Sally quickly left for the laundry room.

"Jack, you go upstairs and get the baby wipes from my backpack," I instructed.

Jack nodded and rushed upstairs.

I turned back to the baby and started to take his diaper off. And, of course, what I saw almost made me die.

"And also, could you bring down the diapers that I have in there," I called up the stairs.

"Why do you have all this stuff?" Jack called down.

"JUST SHUT UP AND GET THE CRAP!" I was really starting to get annoyed with these two. I knew they'd never taken care of a baby before, but they could at least try to be more helpful.

As I placed the kid in the sink, Jack came rushing down with the baby wipes in one hand and the diapers in the other.

"Thank you," I said, taking them from him.

I then started cleaning the baby. And thank gosh he didn't start getting fussy with me. He was very calm throughout his whole bath. He must have gone through this treatment a couple of times before.

Sally then came running into the kitchen right when I was done.

"The baby's clothes are washing," she panted, "and here's a towel for you." She held out a bath towel for me.

"Wow, thanks, Sally," I said impressed. I was glad that she was on top of things, unlike Jack.

I wrapped the baby in the towel and started drying him off gently. As I did, I noticed that he started to look sleepy.

"Poor little guy," I said. "You've had a ruff day, haven't you." I turned back to my aunt and uncle. "We should probably get him to bed."

"What about pajamas?" Sally asked.

I hadn't thought of that. Then an idea struck my mind.

"Go get my old pajamas. They may be too big for him, but they'll have to do for now."

* * *

Since we didn't have a crib, we decided that the baby would sleep with me.

As I tucked in the little guy, I began to ponder on what we were going to do with him. When I turned to Jack and Sally, I could tell they were thinking the same thing.

"So… what are we going to do?" Jack asked.

"Well, what do you think," I said. "We're gonna have to get this guy home."

"But how," Sally said uncertainty. "We don't know where this baby's from, let alone his name."

Jack's face suddenly brightened.

"I've just thought of something," he said excitedly. "Sandy Claws!"

Both Sally and I looked at him blankly for a moment, then he continued on.

"He knows all the children around the world. If we take this kid to him, he might be able to tell us who he is and where he's from. Then we can help get him home."

I stared at Jack in bewilderment.

"That is actually a pretty good idea," I said. "That settles it. Tomorrow, we go to see Santa and he can give us the info we need. Then it's off to bring this little guy home."

Jack and Sally nodded in agreement.

"But for now, I think we should follow the baby's suit and get some sleep ourselves," Sally pointed out.

"Good point," I agreed.

As I put my PJ's on, I stared at the baby. My only hope was that this adventure wouldn't go as crazy as I was expecting it to be.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hey everyone. Sorry it took me so long to upload this new chapter. School got in the way and stuff, so yeah. And sorry if this chapter isn't very exciting. I promise the next one will be more interesting.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The very next morning, I went straight to the supermarket (the one with the human food) and got some more diapers, formula, baby wipes, and - in case we needed it - baby food. After that, we set off to Christmas Town.

As we trudged through the forest, I could hear the kid whimpering in his sleep. I had tied the kid to my back and now it looked as though I was giving him a piggyback ride with no hands. I saw someone in an anime movie do this once. I smiled at his cuteness.

After a while, we ended up at the circle of trees that had the holiday doors on them. We located the Christmas door, and Jack and Sally jumped right in. Before I did, I untied the baby and started carrying him the old fashion way. I wanted him to feel secure while we plummeted through the portal to Christmas Town. As I peaked over the edge of the door and down into the dark abyss, I took a deep breath and jumped.

I was falling through the pale blue vortex like how I had many times before when we went to go visit Santa. Snowflakes flew everywhere. As we neared the end, I looked down at the baby. Thankfully, he was still asleep. I was impressed by this kid's heavy sleepiness. Then, there was a flash of light and when I opened my eyes, I was lying on my back in the snow. I was just so glad that I hadn't landed headfirst in the snow, like how I had one too many times before.

As I got to my feet, the baby suddenly woke up. He started to make fussy sounds.

"Hey," I whispered consolingly, "it's okay. You're okay. You're okay."

The baby calmed down after a few seconds.

"Look," Jack said, pointing his long, bony finger to Santa's workshop that resided in the snow covered valley below us.

"Shall we," I said.

We then made our way down the hill and through Christmas Town. A couple of elves were out and waved to us as we passed. Some of them gasped at the sight of the baby and started muttering in wonder.

We soon arrived at Santa's front door. Jack rang the doorbell, which played a few notes from "Jingle Bells". I stood behind my aunt and uncle. I didn't want Santa to get an immediate surprise that we had a human baby with us right when he answered the door.

In no less that a second, Santa was at the door. He seemed both surprised and delighted to see us.

"Jack, Sally, and… uh… Pinocchio's here, I presume," Santa greeted.

"Yes, he is," Jack answered Santa's confusion.

"What brings you here?" the fat, jolly man asked.

"We've got… a certain situation on our hands that we need your help with."

"What do you mean?"

Jack and Sally broke apart to reveal me holding the baby. Santa's eyes widened.

"I see," he said, a look of concern breaking across his face. "And how did this happen?"

"We just found him in the trash in Halloween Town," I explained. "That's all we know. We were wondering if you knew anything about him?"

Santa looked closely at the baby.

"Hmmm, I think I might be able to do _something_ ," he said. "Come inside."

We walked inside and into Santa's living room.

"Let's see here," Santa said, walking over to a stack of cabinets in the corner. He opened them up and pulled out a folder.

"These contain all the names of the children of the world," he explained.

"Wait," I said confused. "I thought you had a list."

"This is part of it," Santa said quickly, as if he didn't want to go into deep detail about this.

He began flipping through papers on the different children.

"Here, let me help," Jack offered, getting up from his seat.

"Thank you, Jack," Santa said appreciatively. "You're being very helpful today."

"Yeah, he and Sally are the good kids in the family, and I'm the sucky one," I said savagely.

Everyone gave me an irritated look. I guessed they hadn't realized that I was trying to add a little bit of humor to this situation. Deciding that it would be good if I kept my mouth shut, I decided to busy myself by feed the baby.

Santa and Jack then continued to scour through the papers, trying to find the baby's profile. After many minutes of them opening cabinets and flipping through papers, Santa let out a triumphant, "Ah-ha!"

"I've found it."

He held up a piece of paper as if it were a trophy.

"Let's see here," he said as he began reading through the profile. "This little one's name is Hector Anthony O'Johnson. He's about four months old and lives in a small town in Wyoming, just outside of a huge forest."

"Then that's where we're going," I said determinedly, standing up and then proceeding to burp Hector.

"What?" Santa said confused.

"We're going to return this baby home," I explained.

"But you can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because… well…." Santa stopped, trying to look for something about this to make into an argument. "Because… I've heard that the forest outside his town is pretty dangerous."

"So what," I said. "I've been swallowed by a whale and shot out of the sky by the U.S. military."

"But… you weren't," Jack pointed out. "I was-"

"Shut up, Jack," I snapped, not wanting Jack to bud in on my inspirational speech. "I'm trying to get my point here."

Santa then continued. "Well … what about Halloween. You need to prepare for that, Jack."

Jack made a face as if he were thinking about that. "I think me taking a few days off in order to help this infant back home will be okay."

Santa started stuttering, apparently unable to think of anything else to bring up as an argument.

"Got anything else to point out?" I asked, growing impatient.

Santa was silent for a moment. "Actually," he began, getting up, "I think you guys should do this."

I was happy that Santa finally agreed.

"Just be careful," he warned. "We don't want this ending up like the Christmas incident."

"Don't worry, Sandy," Jack said, waving aside his concern. "This will be nothing like that, most assuredly."

I smiled at Jack's confidence.

"Well then," Jack said, straightening up to look important, "we'd better head back to Halloween Town. I have a few things to address."

* * *

As I sat waiting for the town meeting to start, Hector sitting on my lap sucking on his fingers, I was starting to become a little nervous. How was everyone going to react to our plan? Surely they would understand, but still …

Jack then walked out of the side room and up to the podium.

"Listen everyone," Jack said loudly.

Everyone turned their attention to him.

"This is something very important so I need you all to understand. As you all may know, we have a human baby in our midst, and after some further findings about this child's background, my family and I are going to help him get back home."

Everyone gasped and some surprised murmurs began to spread around.

"We may be gone for a good few weeks, so, until then, I'm leaving the Mayor in charge of everything while we're gone." He gestured to the Mayor in the upper level next to the spotlight. "Will that be all right, Mayor?"

"Of course, Jack," the Mayor obliged.

"Well, that's it then. Is everyone okay with that?"

There were some more whisperings within the audience, but not like they were disapproving of this. It was more like they were discussing if they were all right with it. After a while, everyone broke apart and began nodding in approval.

"Then meeting adjourned," Jack said.

I was happy for this outcome. But as everyone was leaving their seats, my only thought was me praying that everything would go well on this semi- _Lord of the Rings_ quest we were going on.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note:_**

 ** _Hi everyone. I'm back. Sorry it took so long. School got in the way. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy_**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I zipped up my backpack, everything we would need for our journey inside. I looked over at Sally who was sitting on the sofa, Hector on her lap. We were waiting for Jack to finish up with telling the Mayor the laydown of what he should do while we were gone.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she answered. "Just a little nervous."

I gave a sympathetic sigh. I then unzipped my backpack and pulled out a book. It was _Your Baby's First Years for Dummies_. I walked over to Sally.

"Here," I said, handing her the book, "this may help both you and Jack."

She took the book and looked at it. Then she looked at me and nodded.

At that moment, Jack came walking through the front door.

"All right," he said, "got all that done. Ready?"

Both Sally and I nodded.

"Good" Jack responded.

I zipped up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. I then went over and helped Sally tie Hector to her back in the same piggyback formation that I had him in the day before. We were then fully ready to go.

As we walked outside people were waving goodbye and wishing us good luck. To be honest, we would kind of need it.

As we were nearing the town gate, the Mayor came walking up to us.

"Are you sure you'll be fine, Jack?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Mayor," Jack reassured him. "We'll be fine."

The Mayor gave a nod of approval.

We then walked through the town gate, pass the graveyard, and into the forest.

In next to no time, we had reached the holiday doors. Jack opened the Halloween door. We had soon come to find out that the Halloween holiday door was actually a portal to the real world. This explained how people from the real world were coming to Halloween Town every Halloween to watch our performances. There were hidden portal throughout the human world that would take them here. And, as a plus, if any of us wanted to go to the real world, for one reason or another, we just had to think were we wanted to go and the door would take us there. With the door open, we all jumped through it and plunged into the darkness below.

* * *

When we woke up, we found ourselves in a clearing in a huge, lustrous forest. I was almost overcome with awe.

"Wow," I whispered. "I don't know what Santa was talking about when he said that this place was dangerous. This place is beautiful."

"It may be, but we still have to be on our guard," Jack said seriously, suddenly appearing at my side.

I was slightly bummed out by Jack ruining the moment, but I quickly got over it. I looked back at Sally as she was getting up.

"How is he?" I asked.

Sally looked at Hector. "Asleep," she answered.

"Good," I said. "Let's get going."

And so, we began. Through trees, undergrowth, brushes, across a few rivers, and over many, _many_ hills. We stopped a few times to change Hector's diapers and feed him. While I was doing all the work, I let Jack and Sally read through the book I gave them. I was glad for this, because I wasn't taking care of this baby all throughout this journey! It wasn't until that evening when I soon realized what Santa meant by this forest be dangerous.

The sun had begin to set and I was tired as crap.

"All right, I think we should set up camp," I said out of breath, "cause I'm _exhausted_!"

"Yeah, it is getting pretty late," Jack agreed. "Pinocchio, you set up, I'll get firewood."

"Okay. Sally, could you feed Hector for me?"

Sally nodded.

"Okay." I reached inside my backpack, pulled out the milk bottle, the carton of milk, and the baby formula.

"Are you sure you can do this by yourself?" I asked. I wanted to make sure she got everything down from reading the book.

"I'll be fine," she reassured.

"Okay," I said, though a little nervous.

I began to pitch the tent.

As I was hammering in the last steak, both Sally and I heard a scream of panic. It sounded like Jack. Surely enough, a few minutes later, Jack had come running through the underbrush.

"Pin - o - cchio," Jack panted. "We've - got - a - situation …"

I looked at Jack confused. "And what do you want me to do about it?" I asked. "You're a big boy."

"It's … a … it's … a-"

Exactly what it was came bursting out of the bushes right at that moment. It was big, bat-like, had huge ears, a white mane on its neck, black wings with purple and maroon claws, teal membrane fans, and huge teeth. I recognized this creature. This thing was a pokemon; a Noivern to be exact, and it did _not_ look friendly.

"Guys," I squeeked in panic, then screamed, "RUUUUUUN!"

As fast as lightning, I grabbed all the camp equipment and then we ran down the hill as fast as possible. We found a large pile of bushes and quickly darted beneath them. At first, I thought that we were safe, but then I remembered something. Noivern could use its huge ears to send supersonic waves to find things in the dark, kinda like how a bat uses echolocation. And the bad thing was, it had already gotten dark. I looked toward everyone and put my finger to my lips. My only hope was that the Noivern wouldn't find us. But right then was when I knew I had jinxed it. Because Hector sneezed. I knew the Noivern would find us because of that, but then an idea struck my mind. I reached into one of the pockets of my backpack and pulled out some pepper spray. I didn't know how pepper spray would affect a pokemon, but I had no time to do experiments on that, because right then, the Noivern found us. I quickly sprayed the pepper spray into its eyes. As it screeched and recoiled, we made a dash for it deeper into the brush. When we got as far away as we could, we waited in silence once again. Thankfully, Hector didn't make a sound this time. After what felt like a minute, we heard the sound of wings flapping and growing distant. We waited for a few minutes and then left our hiding place.

"What was _that_ about?" Jack asked bewildered.

"I have no idea," I responded, just as confused. "But now I see what Santa was talking about."

"What was that thing?" Sally breathed.

"A Noivern," I explained. "The Sound Wave pokemon. _And_ the evolved form of Noibat."

"Please don't start quoting the pokedex," Jack moaned as if my explaining was like torture for him.

"Aww, shut up," I said savagely, then continued. "They're big, they can hear really well with their big ears, and they can be sometimes dangerous."

Sally gave me a stunned look.

"We'll just have to make sure we don't run into it again," Jack said.

I nodded in agreement.

"Let's go set up camp," my uncle suggested. " _For real_ this time."

"Yeah."

As we wandered off to find a new place to camp, I had a funny feeling that we would not be seeing the last of that Noivern.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Over the next few days, however, we hadn't seen hide nor tail of the Noivern. Which was amazing because Hector had continuously woken up in the middle of the night crying. Everytime he had, I got up in attempt to comfort him, but Sally would wake up too, and insisted that she took care of it. So I decided to let her. Unfortunately, this caused her to become increasingly tired during the day. So one morning, Jack and I decided to let her sleep in. We were nice that way. But then, Hector crawled over to Sally's sleeping body as if he wanted to play.

"No no no no no, Hector," Jack said, reaching over to Hector and pulling him away gently. "Sally needs to sleep."

Hector then started to get fussy.

Jack looked at me for help.

"Try to soothe him," I suggested. "Tell him a story … and _not_ a crappy one."

Jack gave me a slightly ticked off look. He then looked as though he were racking his brains for a good story.

"Once ..," he started, "there was a girl who lived on a farm in the mountains. She had a happy life there. But then one day, she was taken away by people from the government. They told her she was part of something very big and that the necklace that she wore was a major part of it. They were taking her to a heavily armed security base via a giant aircraft. On their way, they were attacked by sky pirates. They wanted the girl's necklace. One of the generals tried to signal for help. While he did, though, the girl knocked him out, and she attempted to escape. But, unfortunately, she fell off the side of the aircraft down … down … down …,"

I stared at my uncle thoroughly impressed. I didn't think that Jack would choose to tell the plot of _Castle in the Sky_ in order to soothe Hector, but it seemed to be working.

About thirty-ish minutes later, Sally had woken up and Jack had, conveniently enough, finished telling the story.

"Hey," I greeted my aunt. "You well rested enough?"

She nodded.

"Good because we need to keep moving." I reached into my backpack and pulled out a donut in a ziplock bag. "Here, eat this," I instructed, handing my aunt the donut. "You'll need your strength."

"It's a donut," she said pointedly.

"Just eat it, woman," I said bluntly.

She gave me an annoyed look, then looked down at the donut. She shrugged and popped the donut in her mouth.

After that, we started to move again. Sally took Hector from Jack, but then Hector started making gestures as if he wanted Jack to hold him. The ragdoll looked at me confused. I flipped my eyes quickly over to Jack and she seemed to understand. My aunt then gave Hector back to Jack. As I looked at Hector's happy face, a warm feeling formed in my chest. I was very happy that Jack had bonded with the baby, and if this kept up, it would mean one thing: _future cousins_.

That night, the first of two miracles happened.

We had set up camp and were roasting marshmallows. Hector was playing with some of the baby toys that I'd brought. Then, from out of nowhere, Hector stood on his feet and began _walking_! This drove our attention away fully from our roasted, sugar-filled snacks. I was so shocked that I dropped mine into the fire.

"I-I don't believe it," Sally choked, her eyes welling up with happy tears.

Hector started making his merry way towards me.

"Come on, buddy," I encouraged, getting on my knees and stretching out my arms toward Hector's hobbling body. "Come on. That's it. Come to Uncle Pinocchio."

Then suddenly, he changed direction and started walking towards Sally.

"Hey," I said, trying to revert his attention back onto me, "hello. Hey, over here, kid."

But it seemed as though his mind was made up and he wanted to head toward Sally. She seemed to have gotten the message and got down onto her knees, her arms outstretched. Hector fell onto her legs and she caught him.

"Good job, Hector," she said happily, pulling the baby onto her lap.

She and Jack shared a happy look with each other. And I, once again, knew what this could possibly mean: _future cousins_.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

We were walking through a tunnel of trees. It was actually a really cool sight. It was like walking through one of those epic hallways that you would see in video games or movies. It also reminded me of the tunnel of trees from _My Neighbor Totoro_. I looked back at my family. Both Jack and Sally were holding hands and Hector was riding on Jack's shoulders. A smile broke across my face. We were having one of those beautiful moments where everything was peaceful and nothing could possibly go wrong ….

And, of course, that's exactly what happened next.

There was a sudden rustle from the bushes off from the right. I motioned for my aunt and uncle to get closer to me. Jack took Hector off of his shoulders, and he and Sally rushed towards me. I stared hard into the bushes, ready for whatever was about to pounce. My hands instinctively moved to the Poke Balls. Then what came whooshing out of the bushes was what I had expected. The Noivern was back, and it did _not_ looked happy. Its eyes were still red from the pepper spray.

"Go!" I commanded to my family. "Hide!"

Jack grabbed Sally by the hand and they both rushed on ahead. I turned back to the Noivern.

"What do you want from us?" I yelled, picking up on the fact that it had most likely been stalking us for the past couple of days.

The Noivern stared at me for a few seconds, then its eyes flicked toward the right. I turned and saw that he was looking at Hector, who was still being held tightly by Jack. I turned back to it.

"I don't think so," I whispered seriously.

My hand zoomed for my belt and I pulled out one of my Poke Balls. I tapped on it and it grew to the size of my entire hand. I threw it into the air and it opened. Out popped Piplup.

"Piplup, use Ice Beam!" I commanded. I had been teaching Piplup some ice-type moves. I figured it would come in handy one of these days. And it did make sense when you would think about it. Piplup, the _penguin_ Pokemon. An icy blue jet of light shot out of Piplup's mouth and hit the Noivern directly on it's right wing. That seemed to have done some damage, but the Noivern still shook it off. It then aimed its ears at us. Visible sound waves started appearing out of its ears and were flying right at us; it was using Supersonic. The force was so strong that it blew both Piplup and me away a little. But we held our ground.

"Piplup, use Drill Peck!" I yelled. He leaped toward the Noivern. As he did, his beak grew longer and he started to spin. He hit the Noivern directly on target in the stomach. He hit it so hard that it went flying backwards into a tree. When it hit it, the entire tree came tumbling down. When the Noivern recovered, it gave us a murderous look. A large sound wave formed around the front part of its body and it roared loudly; Boomburst, Noivern's strongest attack. The attack was coming right toward us. I quickly grabbed Piplup and I jumped out of the way. There was a huge explosion. When I looked, I saw that the Boomburst attack had cleared away a few of the trees. A shadow suddenly cast over. The Noivern was right on top of us. We were _so_ dead.

But then there came a whirring noise from off somewhere. It was growing louder. I then recognized the sound of sirens. I then got a glimpse of a police car coming right toward us on the road from behind the trees in the left side. Apparently our ruckus from our battle must've alerted them. Getting up, Piplup still in my arms, I ran for it. There was a sudden gust of wind. I looked up to see that the Noivern had taken off.

"Piplup, quick, return," I said, taking out his Poke Ball. A red beam shot out of it and hit Piplup. His whole body then turned red and he zoomed back into the ball.

I eventually found Jack, Sally, and Hector hiding behind a huge rock.

"Po-po," I panted. "We gotta move quick."

My aunt and uncle got onto their feet and followed me further through the trees.

Eventually, we came upon a river, which was moving really fast. I looked down to see if it was one of those super shallow rivers where you could see the rocks right underneath it. Unfortunately, I couldn't even see the bottom of it. It was also way too wide for us to jump across. But even though these obstacles were in the way, I knew we had to cross it, otherwise we would be explaining a lot to the police. I looked up and down the river to see if there were any means of us getting across. Thankfully, I spotted some smooth stones the size of paving slabs not too far down. I motioned for my family to follow me. When we got up to the stones, however, I noticed that some of the water was lapping onto the top part of them. I breathed in nervously and turned back to my aunt and uncle.

"Okay, guys, we have to be super careful here," I instructed. "One mess up, and I'm not sure if we'll be getting this kid back home."

Jack and Sally nodded seriously.

I turned back to the stones. Summoning up my courage, I carefully placed a foot onto the first stone. Then I put my other foot on it. I had made it onto the first stone without any disasters happening whatsoever. I then went onto the next stone. Even though everything was okay at the moment, this was almost as stressful as walking on thin ice. I turned back to see how the others were doing. Sally came next and seemed to be managing well, which was a relief, because of her fragile state, I was suspecting her to fall in the first chance that it would happen. Jack was also doing fine, which didn't surprise me at all. I went back to concentrating on getting _myself_ across. We eventually made it halfway across the river. I looked back again to see how my family was managing. They seemed to be doing all right. But then, Jack's right foot slipped on the stone and he had to catch himself. But as he did, he dropped Hector, who went splashing into the stream. I felt as though my heart had completely stopped.

"HECTOR!" Sally screamed.

Jack looked at the river in panic. Then his face became determined, and he dived in. Sally and I looked at each other. Without hesitation, we both crossed as fast as we could. Once we reached the other side, we raced down the river in the direction where it was flowing. As my lungs started to burn and a stitch began to form in my chest, I prayed deeply that both of them would still be alive. We ran up to a bush. As I pulled the branches aside, my muscles tensed at what I saw. There was Jack, sopping wet on his hands and knees breathing heavily. And right next to him lay Hector …. He wasn't moving. I felt my entire body go numb. From behind me, I could hear Sally's stifled sobs. We failed. Hector wouldn't be going home, after all. But then, Jack crawled over to Hector's unconscious body, tilted his head, lifted his chin a little, put his bony pointer and middle finger on his chest and began pushing gently. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Jack was performing CPR on a baby. He really was paying attention to that baby book that I got. After a few minutes of waiting in bated breath, Hector gave a sudden gasp. Then he threw up all over his shirt and started crying. I was so relieved by this that I almost fainted. Jack quickly reached inside his coat pocket, pulled out a Kleenex, dipped it into the water, and wiped the puke off of Hector. He then picked him up and held him close.

"Shh," Jack whispered comfortingly. "It's okay. It's over now …. I know, that wasn't a pleasant experience. It's okay, it's okay."

After a while, Hector's crying reduced to sniffles. Taking advantage of his sudden change of character, Jack got up.

"Come on," he said seriously. "We better get moving."

* * *

Later that night, the second of two miracles happened. I picked up what felt like the twentieth stick for the fire. After the events of that day, I was _exhausted_.

Hector was doing much better, though. We got him all dried off after the whole river incident and then he took a nice long nap. After that, he was back to his original self.

Even though Hector was okay, I was starting to despair on this whole mission of ours.

Hector walked up to me.

"Well, I don't know what we're going to do with you, buddy," I sighed miserably. "Jack and Sally barely know how to take care of you, we're pretty much just wondering blindly around in this forest, and to top it all off,you nearly died today. Not to mention we have that stupid Noivern following us around …. It'll take a miracle to get you home now."

I began walking back toward camp.

"P-P-Pinocchio," I suddenly heard.

I stopped, feeling as if I had just received an electric shock.

"W-What did you say?" I asked, turning my head slowly around to Hector.

"Pinocchio," he said again.

I dropped the sticks, my eyes widening with amazement.

"Sweet Charlotte!" I exclaimed, happiness swelling inside of me. "Y-You can talk."

I picked up Hector and he smiled. I raced back to the camp.

"Jack! Sally!" I panted. "Hector can talk. Say it again bud."

"Pinocchio!" he said happily. "Pinocchio, Pinocchio, Pinocchio."

"Isn't that cool. _I'm_ his first word!"

"Aww, that's sweet," Sally said happily.

"Hector, can you say 'Sally'?" I said, pointing to my aunt.

"Sally," Hector squeaked.

"Can you say …" I set Hector on the ground and went for my backpack. I pulled out my _Hobbit_ book and flipped to a certain page. "Can you say 'Bilbo Baggins'?" I pointed to the name on the page.

"Beelbo Baggins." Hector giggled.

"Here, let me try," Jack interjected excitedly. "Can you say 'Jack'?"

"Stupid," Hector peeped. I had to control myself from exploding with laughter.

"No, Hector. 'Jack'," my uncle tried again.

Hector looked at Jack for a moment, then piped, "Stupid!"

Jack gave a disappointed look. I laughed. Hector giggled and clapped his hands. His cuteness was enough to make me smile. I was, once again, feeling the same feeling of peace that I felt earlier on that day.

I picked up Hector, walked over to the log that Jack and Sally were sitting on, and squeezed in right between them. I put the baby on my lap. I felt now would be the perfect time. I took a deep breath.

 _Oh, hush thee, my baby_

 _The night is behind us_

 _And black are the waters that sparkle so green_

 _The moon, o'er the combers, looks downward to find us_

 _At rest in the hollows that rustle between._

 _Where billow meets billow_

I stopped. It was then I noticed that Jack and Sally had joined in. I smiled, happiness warming my heart, and continued.

 _Then soft by thy pillow;_

 _Ah, weary wee flipperling_

 _Curl at thy ease_

 _The storm shall not wake thee,_

 _Nor shark overtake thee_

 _Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas._

 _Asleep in the arms of the slow-swinging seas…._

And just like that, Hector fell asleep. The warm happiness swarm through my entire body. If I had to pick my favorite part of this mission, it would be this moment.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note:**_

 _ **Hey everybody. Sorry that this one was so late. Went to Disney so yeah. This chapter was pretty hard to do, but I'm glad I got it uploaded. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. You rock!**_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

We were trudging through the trees again. I didn't know why, but I felt as though we would soon be literally "out of the forest," and Hector would be back home. I felt the same peace I had felt yesterday. But then, something, once again, happened to ruin it. I should either be more on my guard or I should just stop getting my hopes up.

I heard rustling from the bushes behind us, and sure enough, out flew the Noivern.

"Aw, come _on_!" I yelled. I was just about done with this thing following us. But if I had to fight it, then that's how it was going to be.

Jack and Sally stood back.

I grabbed Piplup's Pokeball, threw it up into the air, and out he popped.

"Piplup, use -" But then I saw something that would've made the perfect moment for a record scratching.

Hector had his arms outstretched and was struggling to, what looked like, get to the Noivern. I was so confused that I couldn't even move for a few moments.

"Wait, _WHAT_!" I bellowed, throwing my arms down in a dumbfounded manner.

The Noivern then started to make noise.

"What's he saying, Piplup?" I asked.

Piplup was silent for a few moments.

"He's saying that he knows Hector," Piplup translated. "He says that one day, Hector's parents were on a picnic with him, but he wandered off into the forest. Noivern then found him and started to take care of him. But then one day, he lost Hector …. He thought he'd lost him forever."

"Hector must have found one of the portals to Halloween Town and got himself stuck there," Jack concluded.

"That must've been how he ended up in that trash can," I figured out.

The Noivern continued to speak.

"Then when Noivern saw us with Hector, he thought we must have kidnapped him," Piplup continued.

Everyone then went silent.

I stepped forward to the Noivern.

"So … all you wanted to do was just get Hector back to his family," I said softly.

The Noivern nodded.

I then looked back at my family, then I looked back at Noivern.

"Can you take us to where he lives?" I asked.

The Noivern stared at me for a moment. Then his eyes softened and he nodded.

He turned his back to us and began to make motions as if he wanted us to climb aboard. I had Piplup return to his Pokeball, and then me, Jack and Sally all climbed onto Noivern's back.

It took off and before we knew it, we were flying high above the forest. It flew towards the east. By nightfall, we had reached a suburb.

The Noivern landed in front of this light blue house that was about two stories tall. It had a white front porch and the windows had green shutters. Hector's parents must not have very good color sense.

Noivern landed in the shadows, and we climbed off its back. I looked toward the house and then back at Noivern. It nodded at me, and I knew what it meant. I drew my attention back towards the house. This was it.

"Okay," I whispered, turning to my aunt and uncle. "When they answer the door just tell that we're in costumes."

They nodded in agreement.

"Give me Hector."

Sally gave Hector to me and we began walking towards the house.

I rang the doorbell. After a few moments a woman answered. She had blonde hair and blue eyes just like Hector, but they were also red and puffy. She must've been crying recently.

"Can I help you," she asked stuffily. But then her eyes bulged as she noticed that we were holding her baby. "H-Hector!" I gave her her kid, and, her eyes filling with tears, hugged him tightly. Hector began making happy noises, being reunited with his mother.

"How -," she began, but when she looked back at us, her eyes widen with shock, as if she just realized who had delivered her baby.

"Okay, before you scream, we're in costumes," I said hastily, "and … we found your kid in the forest on our way to a costume party."

"And you brought him all the way here," she said, gratitude in her voice.

"Yes," I said awkwardly.

"Oh, thank you," she said, almost collapsing with happiness. "This was so much more than I could ever ask for. I tried to call the police, but they wouldn't believe me."

"Well then, your law system is full of crap … and it's a good thing we found."

She nodded in agreement."Thank you."

"It was our pleasure," Jack said politely.

"He was fun to have around," Sally added.

Hector's mother smiled at us gratefully.

Jack put his hand on my shoulder, indicating to me that it was time for us to head out.

"Well kid," I said, walking up to Hector, "it was fun. Stay cute." I patted him on the head.

Sally then walked up to him. "Good-bye, Hector. You be good now." She stroked his cheek.

Then it was Jack's turn. "Good-bye, Hector. Grow up strong." Hector clapped at him.

We began walking away. When we looked back, Hector's mom was making him wave goodbye to us. We all smiled. We then reached Noivern and climbed on its back again. It didn't take off right away because Hector's mom was still out. After a few minutes, she walked back in. We waited a couple moments after that, and then we took off.

"Could you take us back to the Halloween Town portal?" Jack asked over the wind. Noivern nodded and zoomed off.

As we were soaring, I saw Jack and Sally holding hands and giving each other hopeful looks. My heart warmed. Even though Hector was gone, this whole experience taught them a few things. And who knew, maybe one day, it would happen between them.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note_**

 ** _Hey everyone. I have now finished my second fanfic. I'm very happy about this. I'm sorry this took a while. I promise to get my fanfic chapters uploaded more frequently. Hope you all enjoy this one and have a good day._**


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